Method of pressing and packing tobacco with natural finish



H. P. TAYLOR 1,924,760

' METHOD OF PRESSING AND PACKING TOBACCO WITH NATURAL FINISH Aug. 29,1933.

Filed June 7, 1930 JNVENTOR.

BY W

A TTORNE Y.

Patented Aug. 29, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE METHOD OF PRESSINGAND PACKING TOBACCO WITH NATURAL FINISH 1 Claim.

An object of this invention is to provide means for pressing a mass ofmanufactured tobacco such as plug, twist, etc. together and to produceon the exterior of the mass of tobacco a natural 5 rough and readyfinish which corresponds to the finish imparted to the inside layers ofthe manufactored tobacco by said inside layers being pressed againsteach other.

Heretofore it has been the custom to press tobacco with top and bottompress members which are smooth and this causes the exterior plugs tohave a slick or unnatural finish, and then this mass of tobacco isplaced in the box or container and smooth surfaced heads are placed inthe box, and it is seen that by examining the package of tobaccomanufactured in this way that upon removing the top member of this-boxit will be noted that the top layers of tobacco have the same slickfinish as has that side of the top mem- 0 her that comes into contactwith the outside surface of the top layer of tobacco. Upon removing theentire mass of superimposed layers of tobacco it will be noted that theoutside surface of the bottom layer of tobacco which came into contactwith the inside surface of the bottom member of the box or container hasthe same slick or unnatural finish as has the inside surface of thebottom member. These outside surface finishes of the top and bottomlayers of the mass of tobacco are what are known as unnatural finishesand it is one of the purposes of this invention to eliminate thisunnatural surface finish and make these surface finishes similar N tothe surface finishes of the inside layers of the mass of manufacturedtobacco, or any other predetermined surface finish that may be desired.These unnatural surface finishes cause the retail merchant to have tosell the pieces or plugs of manufactured tobacco, composing the top andbottom layers of the mass of manufactured tobacco, at a considerablereduction in price, which causes a very serious loss to the retailmerchant and is further, a drawback or hindrance to the sale ofmanufactured tobacco. Upon examining the inside layers of the mass ofmanufactured tobacco it will be noticed that the surface finishes ofthese layers are a roughened, more or less, surface finish and this isknown as the rough and ready finish. It will, further, be noted that wthe vein, fibre, and inheritant characteristics of the leaves oftobacco, with which each piece or plug of tobacco composing the layer iswrapped. These wrapping leaves are pressed tight'to the pieces or plugsso that they become in fact a the inside surface finishes, also, have,and show,

part of the pieces or plugs of tobacco. The inside surface finishes, asabove described, are capable of being sold at full value by the detailmerchant to the consumer. It will be noted that there is a very distinctand decided difference in the.sur- 59 face finishes of the inside layersas compared to the outside surface finishes of the top and bottom layersof the mass of manufactured tobacco.

In the pressing of amass or masses of superimposed layers of tobacco inpresses, during the processof manufacture, what is known as top andbottom press plates are placed inside at the top and bottom of the presscompartment between the mass of tobacco and the top and bottom of thepressing compartment. This invention will produce, or produces, or makesuse of, a suitable, satisfactory low price material that can be used aspress plates. This material as herein shown can be moulded, cast, or inother way herein shown, not only to any desired reasonable size, but,also, with a permanent surface finish identical, as herein described, tothe surface finish of an inside layer of a mass of manufactured tobaccoknown as a natural finish. Further, plates made of this material willhave some stretch or elasticity to them, and being of a non-grained,fibrous, nature will stretch or expand toward all sides or edges of theplate and thus keep the edges of such plates tight and snug against theinside sides of the pressing compartment in which they are used for amuch longer time at a lower initial cost than does the present used typeof press plate. The plates made of this substitute material can have onesurface side each of the top and bottom plates made with an exactreproduction of the surface finish of an inside layer of the mass ofpressed tobacco, herein described as a natural finish, such surfacefinish'being placed ,next'to the top layer of the top mass of tobacco tobe pressed and to the outside surface of the bottom layer of the mass oftobacco to be pressed, the other sides of these plates contacting withthe top and bottom members of the press or box or container in whichthey are used or contacting with each other where such plates are usedas division plates.

Now when the plates and mass or masses of to- 1' bacco are placed in thepressing compartment and not now done and cannot be done with the presnent used type of press plate. It is very desirable to have press platesmade and used as described in this invention so that, should no pressurebe applied to the top member of the box or container when the mass ofmanufactured tobacco is put into it and sealed or fastened in by sealingor fastening the top member of the box or container in place, that theoutside surfaces of the top and bottom layers of the mass ofmanufactured tobacco will have natural surface finishes identical withthe natural surface finish of an inside layer of the mass ofmanufactured tobacco, and will be readily accepted by the customer atfull market price,thus preventing loss to the retail merchant andenhancing the reputation of the product with the consumer and the retailmerchant owing to the fact that there will be no undesirable unnaturalsurface finished layers in the manufactured product so finished. Thisfeature alone will be of untold value to the manufacturer in increasingthe popularity of such a manufactured article. It is one of the purposesof this invention to produce such plates to be used in presses or boxesor containers.

Another object of this invention is to fashion or make out of this samematerial suitable top and bottom members for boxes or containers formanufactured tobacco which will have on the surface of these top andbottom members, that come into contact with the outside surface of Y thetop and bottom layers of the mass of manufactured tobacco anexactreproduction, in all the minute details, of the surface finish of aninside layer of the mass of manufactured tobacco, known as the naturalsurface finish, as herein above described. Then when themass ofmanufactured tobacco is removed from the last press in which it has beenpressed, and is placed in its proper size box or container and the topmember fastened into place, these topand bottom members will insure thatthe outside surface finishes of the top and bottom layers of the mass ofmanufactured tobacco, with which they comein contact, will have, whensuch layers are presented to the consumerv by the retail merchant, anatural surface finish, as herein above described, instead of thepresent slick or unnatural surface finish, as herein above described.Details of the production of this material and the imparting of naturalsurface finishes to this material will be described herein after.

It is here desired to again state what is known as the natural surfacefinish of an inside layer of the mass of manufactured tobacco. Such anatural surface finish is one showing a roughened, uneven, surfacefinish, and has on it, in addition to this roughened, uneven, surfacefinish, vein, fibre, and other characteristics of the leaves of tobaccowith which each piece or plug of tobacco is wrapped and, alsoimpressions .of the vein, fibre, and other characteristics of leaves oftobacco with which the adjoining or contacting piece or plug of tobaccois wrapped; these contacting surfaces imparting to each "other, underpressure, the characteristic surface finishes of each other. It is oneof the purposes of this invention to have the surfaces of theabovementioned plates and the above men-' tioned top and bottom members ofboxes and containers, that come into contact with the outside surfacesof top and bottom layers .of'the mass of manufactured tobacco made orfinished in' allthe minute details, ,of the above described naturalsurface finishes of inside layers of the mass of manufactured tobacco.

At this point it is desired to state what is and describe what is knownas back pressure. Referring to that part of the process of manufacturingthe above described mass of manufactured tobacco where this mass ofmanufactured tobacco is taken from the final press and placed in its boxor container, it has been stated, that this mass of manufactured tobaccohas been pressed in one or more presses. When such a mass ofmanufactured tobacco is taken out of the press the pieces or plugscomposing the layers of this mass of tobacco have a strong tendency toswell back to approximately their original unpressed state of being,this swelling back being known as back pressure. When such a mass ofmanufactured tobacco is placed in its box or container, and the topmember put or pressed into its place and securely and properly fastenedto the box or container, this then confined mass of manufactured tobaccowill exert, due to back pressure, a decided pressure against both thetop and the bottom members of the box or container. This back pressurewill cause the outside surfaces of the top and bottom layers of the massof manufactured tobacco to press against the contacting surfaces of thetop and bottom members of the box or container with enough pressure tohave imparted, on these surfaces of layers of tobacco, impressionssimilar to those identical with the contacting surface finishes of thetop and bottom members of the box or container. Itis one of the purposesof this invention to utilize this back pressure to a favorable advantageinstead of the present unfavorable result. Where such pressure issufficient, (even though plates used in the presses with this mass oftobacco are of the herein above described present type of used plateresulting in slick, unnatural surface finishes of the outside surface ofthe top and bottom layers of the mass of manufactured tobacco) this backpressure, where the above described improved type of top and bottommembers of boxes or containers are used, will cause the outside surfacefinishes of the top and bottom layers of the mass of manufacturedtobacco to lose their slick unnatural finish and assume, in minutedetail, the natural contacting surface finishes of the top and bottommembers of the box or container.

Where this back pressure is sufficient, and the mass of manufacturedtobacco tightly and securely confined in its Wooden box or container,and the present used conventional type of slick smooth faced surface topand bottom members are used, even though the improved herein describedtype of press plates are used, this back pressure will cause the outsidesurfaces of the top and bottom layers of the confined mass ofmanufactured tobacco to assume, or largely assume, the slick smoothunnatural surface finish of the contacting surface of the top and bottommembers, and the resulting surface finish of the outside surfaces of thetop and bottom layers being easily distinguishable as unnatural surfacefinishes. Where the mass of manufactured tobacco is placed in a type boxor container that is not of proper construction to resistback pressure,and the back pressure is largely overcome and eliminated by confiningthe mass of manufactured tobacco in boxes or containers for aperiod oftime sufficient to largely overcome or eliminate this back pressure andthe mass of manufactured tobacco the'nplaced in its final box orcontainer, which in many instances is a paste board box which is usedfor small packages of tobacco ranging from two to five pounds or evenlarger sizes,

the use of these improved types of herein described plates in both thepresses and thenext to final boxes or containers will insure the outsidesurface finishes of the top and bottom layers'of the mass ofmanufactured tobacco having, and retaining natural surface finishes whenplaced in its final box or container. This above described use of theseimproved types of plates for use not only in presses, but also in boxesor containers is a purpose of this invention, and these plates can beused to advantage in the paste board box as heads for the same to insurethat the tobacco will not assume a slick appearance after being packedin the box even though the back pressure has been almost entirelyeliminated by confining the mass of tobacco in a second press.

It is well known that the surface faces of wood, especially those typesof wood suitable and of sufiicient strength to be used in themanufacture of all members entering into the construction of woodenboxes or containers for manufactured tobacco cannot be embossed,moulded,

died, stamped, shaped or pressed, or in any other way, fashioned withany minute permanent de-v tailed reproduction of exact, identical,duplicate surface finishes, such as the natural, rough and ready surfacefinishes of inside layers of the mass of manufactured tobacco as hereindescribed. Wood is of a grained construction, or structural nature thatdoes not permit this being done, and if it were possible to properlyemboss or stamp it, as herein above described, with the natural surfacefinish of an inside layer of the mass of manufactured tobacco, thestructural strength of the wood would be so weakened that it would beuseless as a top and bottom member for a box or container formanufactured tobacco, and in addition, the cost of doing this would beso prohibitive as to eliminate attempts to do this. It is desired tostate here that while attempts have been made to do this, the resultsfrom such attempts have been unsuccessful where the resulting top andbottom layers of the mass of manufactured tobacco have been offered tothe consumer. Such attempts have not been able, for the reasons aboveherein stated, to reproduce the exact duplicate finish of the naturalsurface finish of an inside layer of the massof manufactured tobacco.

This substitute product for wood board can be prepared in the followingmanner: Take any fibrous material including such as cane, stalks,

straw, wood, or waste wood, pieces from lumber-' ing operations orlumber mills, or cotton, and any other suitable material and macerateitinto a mass of fibrous material. This niacerating can be done by severalmethods, including such methods as placing the material to be maceratedinto cylinders or containers of sufficient strength and sealing up suchcylinders or containers tight and securely with proper strength. Thenthrough a proper opening or intake steam is'injected into.

duce or change the fibrous material to a nongrained fibrous mass is toplace the fibrous mateand heating the water, chemicals and fibrousmaterial to a sufficient temperature for a sufficient length of time.This will cause the individual fibers of the fibrous materials toseparate one from the other and with the water, chemicals, and fibre andseparated fibrous material, form a non-grained fibrous mass. It is notthe purpose of this above description of ways of converting fibrousmaterial into a non-grained fibrous mass to limit this invention to theuse of,

material made only from. or by these two described methods. Any properlyprepared nongrained fibrous mass can be used.

The fibrous material having now been reduced or converted into anon-grained fibrous mass, such mass may be washed free of any che'mi-,cals used in the reducing or converting process and passed throughrollers, presses, or other means that will press from it the surplusmoisture. Then a proper and suitable binder, and, if desired, a suitablewater proofing, may be ap-' plied to the washed out, squeezed out,nongrained fibrous mass so that when it is pressed, embossed, moulded,cast, shaped in any way, or vulcanized into any desired form it willproperly hold together and become a solid, firm, nongrained, fibrousmaterial that can be used in the place of wood products.

The moulds, presses, dies, or casting forms in which, and with which thenon-grained fibrous mass is shaped and pressed may, or may not, befitted with heating compartments for vulcanizing the non-grained fibrousmass.

These moulds, presses, dies, or casting forms, must be of propermaterial and of sufiicient strength to withstand the pressureused inforcing and forming, stamping, or embossing and shaping, the non-grainedfibrousmass into the desired form.

These moulds, presses, dies, or casting forms may have on that part oftheir surfaces that come into contact with the non-grained fibrous massan exact reproduction of any design which it is desired to havereproduced on the surface mass.

When properly handled this finished product made from a non-grainedfibrous mass will have as great or greater strength than has wood ofthe'same weight'and' thickness and will not warp or splinter or crack aswill wood. Further, the imparting to it of any desired design, includingan exact reproduction of the natural surface finish of an inside layerof a mass of manufactured tobacco, as hereinbefore described, in all theexact, detailed minuteness of the design will not weaken its strength orchange its structural nature as will happen to wood if it is attemptedto stamp, emboss, or impress the wood with a similar design, and,further where such an attempt is made with wood it willbe found owingrial into a tank of water with water and proper chemicals dissolved intothe water in the tank IOU to the structural nature of wood, not'to suc-It is now necessary to reproduce on the desired part or parts ofthesurfaces of the moulds,

presses, dies, or casting forms that come into contact with the desiredsurfaces of the prod-. not to be made from the non-grained fibrous masspermanent, exact, minute, clear, detailed reproductions of the naturalsurface finishes of an inside layer of a mass of manufactured tobacco,or any other desired types or design of finishes. One'method of doingthis is to take anexact proper impression of the desired finish of theinside layer of pressed tobacco and from this impression make moulds, bywell known methods, with this desired exact impression showing on thedesired part or parts of the sur faces of these moulds that come intocontact with the desired part or parts of the surfaces of thenon-grained fibrous mass which it is desired to have made into thefinished product. Then when this finished product is taken fromthemoulds it will have, as a permanent, integral, finish on that desiredpart or parts of its surface or surfaces, an exact reproduction of thisdesired finish. The term moulds is used to cover and include presses,dies, casting forms, and any method of properly fashioning thenongrained fibrous mass into the desired finished product. The termdesired finish is used to cover and include any desired finish and thenatural finish of an inside layer of a mass of manufactured tobacco.

Some of the objects of my invention having been stated other objectswill appear as the description proceeds, when taken in connection withthe accompanying drawing, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of atobacco press built in accordance with my invention;

Figure 2 is a face view of one of the members 19 in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a side elevation partly in cross-section of a caddy oftobacco equipped with a special head member;

Figure 4 is a face view of the special head member for the caddy shownin Figure 3.

Referring more specifically to the drawing the numerals and 11 indicatethe supporting members for my conventional press frame which members 10andll have the projections 12 and 13 thereon which are adapted tosupport the press proper which is indicated by the reference character14 which press has projections 15 and 16 thereon, which are adapted tonormally rest on projections 12 and 13.

The press is equipped'with the head members 1'7 and 18 and all of thestructure thus far described is a conventional press. I provide thecontacting surfaces of the head members 1'? and 18 with a special platemember 19. Heretofore the surface of the press heads 17 and. 18 whichcontact with the tobacco have been slick and smooth and have imparted tothetobacco the unnaturalor smooth finish which has heretofore beenspoken of. In carryingout my invention by applying the'same to a press Iprovide the press heads 17 and 18 with an integral, attache-d, ordetachable member 19 which has on its surface contacting with the massof tobacco 21 to be pressed a reproduction of the natural rough andready finish of a layer of pressed. plugs or pieces of tobacco takenfrom the interior .of a

head surfaces 20 can be made by first taking an impression from a layerof pressed manufactured tobacco takenfrom the interior of they batch ofpressed tobacco and from this impressionthe press head or the members 19canbe specially cast or impressed, simulating the interior of a batch ofpressed plugs of tobacco. It is evident of course that any other desireddesign such as a trade-mark or other matter can be associated-with thesurface of the press head or the member 19 if desired.

After the tobacco which is indicated by the reference character 21 hasbeen pressed in the press it is removed therefromand placed into a caddy22 which caddy instead of having the ordinary wooden head member isprovided witha special head member composed of composition non-resilientmaterial which heads are designated by the reference characters 23 and24, and

these members 23 and 24, made of macerated,

is pressed or otherwise prepared as heretoforedescribed, and has theinside surfaces thereof which contact with the mass of tobacco embossed,stamped, moulded or otherwise provided with the-actual reproduction ofa-layer of pressed plugs of manufactured tobacco taken from the interiorof a batch of plugs of tobacco, said surface being represented by thereference character 25 in Figure 4. The tobacco after being pressed inthe structure shown in Figure 1 is then placed in the caddy as shown inFigure 3, under pressure, and the back pressure which has heretoforebeen spoken of then exerts itself for an appreciable length of timeafter the tobacco 21 is confined Within the caddy, and although thetobacco 21 is provided with a surface 20 while in the press proper itwill also contact with the other surface 25, so as to cause the tobaccoto receive the additional impression of the surface 25 so that in casethere should be any portion of the surface of the batch of tobacco whichis not properly impressed by the first press that the continued pressureexerted by the back pressure after the tobacco has been sealed in thecaddy will cause the outside surfaces of the outside layers of tobaccoto bemouled with an exact reproduction of a layer taken from the insideof a batch of pressed manufactured tobacco. 7

It is therefore evident that I have provided means for pressing tobaccowith a natural rough 'and ready finish and confining said tobacco in acaddy with head members also provided with the contacting surfacesmoulded or otherwise provided with a surface which is a reproduction ofa layer of pressed tobacco taken from-the interior of a batch of pressedmanufactured tobacco.

Should the mass of tobacco 21 be pressedin a press with the present usedconventional type of slick top and bottom press members and then placedin a caddy or container 22 withtop and bottom head members 23 and 24 andsufficient pressure be used in pressing into place and fastening thecaddy or container head member and, also, sufficient back pressure beexerted by the mass of tobacco 21 on the members 23 and 24, whenconfined in the caddy or container 23, the outside surface of the massof tobacco contacting with the members 23 and 24 will have imparted tosuch outside surfaces natural surfaces exactly like the surfaces of alayer of tobacco takenfrom the interior of a batch of pressedmanufactured tobacco.

The members 19 are preferably made of an expansible material so thatwhenused' in presses they will expand 'against the sidewalls of thepress and prevent squirting or spewing as now occurs when metallicplates are used. If desired I can have the members now expansible andrigid so said plate members 19 can be used for heads and bottoms for thecontainer in which the tobacco is packed instead of the members 23 and24.

In the drawing and specification I have set forth a preferred embodimentof my invention, and although specific terms are employed, they are usedin a generic and descriptive sense only, and not for purposes oflimitation, the scope of the invention being set forth in the appendedclaim.

I claim:

That method of pressing and packing pieces of manufactured tobacco whichcomprises placing a batch of pieces of tobacco in a suitable press andimpressing on the surfaces which are to occupy the top and bottompositions in a packing caddy or box a surface which is a reproduction ofthe surface finish of a layer of tobacco taken from an inside layer ofpressed manufactured tobacco, then removing the batch of pressed tobaccofrom the press and sealing the same in a caddy, box, and the like andwhile in the caddy, box, and the like again impressing on the top andbottom surfaces of the batch of tobacco another surface finish which isa reproduction of a layer of tobacco taken from the inside of a batch ofpressed manufactured tobacco.

HENRY P. TAYLOR.

